Friday, July 9, 2010

Why LeBron James Is Now A Sucker & A Sidekick

I planned on doing a blog on LeBron's exodus from Cleveland anyway, but due to some of the questions and statements I have received about my opinion of him I felt the best way to address it is in a blog entry. This isn't going to be some literary masterpiece. This is going to be more of a stream of consciousness, point by point entry about some of the things I have heard or been asked.

First of all my feelings in general:

He has always had the biggest ego in sports right alongside A-Rod, T.O. and Floyd Mayweather. Your ego can't possibly be anything less than that when you are comfortable with the moniker "King" before you ever step on to an NBA floor. That raised my eyebrow at jump, but I gave it a pass because if any city deserved a star and deserved success on a national level it's Cleveland. I say this as a Pittsburgher and die-hard Steelers fan. I am not the type of cat to hate rival teams just because they are rivals. I do tend to have little to no patients for jerks.

Then there is his Jordan worship and the fact that he aspired to be in that company. I was happy for Cleveland that they finally had a player that was going to try and bring them a title and appeared to have the ability to do so.

The picture above is of LeBron's own words from an ESPN The Magazine article from 2006. This has always kinda been my requirement for greatness in regards to basketball. It's the reason why people love Jordan, Magic & Bird. It's the reason why NBA in the 1980's and to a lesser extent the 90's are looked back upon so fondly. Isaiah's Pistons and Dominique's Hawks battling Bird's Celtics, Jordan's Bulls, Barkley's Sixers/Suns, Drexler's Blazers, Stockton and Malone's Jazz & Ewing's Knicks. These guys didn't chase rings while in their prime. They tried to bring rings to the teams & cities that they represented. Barkley was dealt to the Suns because the Sixers were rebuilding and at the time he was 29 years old. Drexler was in a similar situation when he was dealt to the Rockets and that was only after giving the Blazer 12 years!

It's kinda sad to see a young man with his talent give up so easily. Please don't be fooled, because that's exactly what he did. He couldn't beat them so he joined them. Do you think Jordan wanted to leave the Bulls for the Pistons? The fact that he is basically running away from competition kinda bugs me. To call yourself King James and then go to someone else's team to be his sidekick . . . huh? What? He told Cleveland and the rest of the nation that he can't beat Kobe, Wade or Duncan.

Wade was out there recruiting free agents to come to Miami to help him. Why couldn't LeBron have done that for the Cleveland? This is a city that has not experienced a title since 1964. You're going to go on national television to tell them, "fuck you"? Really? REALLY? Let's put this into perspective. More than likely if you are reading this you weren't even born the last time Cleveland won anything. Hell, man of you may have parents that weren't even born with Cleveland last held a title. Cleveland has had to deal with The Drive, The Fumble and Jordan Over Ehlo and now LeBron has now given them The Exodus, The Departure, The Decision or The Defection.

Look at this through a real world lens. How does a man that has worked for a company for 7 years not have the guts to go up to his boss as a man and look him in the eye to tell him that he's leaving? Think about that. He essentially did just that. This is a company that gave him anything and everything that he could have wanted. He had input on personnel moves and his coach. How about this? Would you dump a boyfriend or girlfriend on TV? I'm not talking about the degenerates that go on talk shows. I'm talk to you! Would you really slap them in the face like that?

People want to make fun of or are outraged by Cavalier's owner, Dan Gilbert's letter to Cavs fans. But if you did everything you could to make a person happy and comfortable and you are told on TV that your best employee or significant other is no long longer going to be with you, you would be pissed also. If you say no, you're lying to yourself. It's like he wanted to rub his decision in the face of the Cavs, their fans and the city. Let's also not forget how he went out in Cleveland on the court. We were all wondering why he was playing the way he was. He seemed completely disinterested in beating the Celtics and played the worst series any superstar player, ever! Shortly after the series it hit the web that his mother may have been getting piped by Delonte West. Is this true? I don't know. But his play was so bad that people felt that something like this may have been an excuse for it. People want to focus on Dan Gilbert's guarantee that the Cavs will win a title before LeBron, but he said it in anger right after being embarrassed on national television. When he woke up this morning he probably regretted that part of the letter, but the rest of his letter was maybe in bad for in tone but was anything he wrote not true?

I want to be crystal clear about this. I have no problem with the fact that he chose to leave Cleveland. I felt that was going to happen most of this season and those feelings grew stronger after his playoff performance and the rumors about his mother and Delonte. The problem I have is strictly in regards to the nature in which he went about what he did.

With that being said I want to address some of the questions that I received on twitter in regards to my disappointment in his leaving and why I find the way he exited upsetting.

Have u ever thought that a ring is more important than all this greatness YALL are wanting for him?

Chasing a ring somewhere else when you are in the prime of your career with another team lessens it in my eyes and I doubt that I am alone in my feelings.

Why are yall mad? He don't care what yall think.

I feel this whole process of taking over a network for an hour just to flip off your previous employer and the city that you claim to love is a asshole/jerk/bitch ass move. I have absolutely no tolerance for assholes/jerks/bitch asses in ANY aspect of life. Him caring what I think doesn't matter. People express their feelings on people that don't care about them all of the time. I don't why his caring should have any impact on whether I vent frustration or not. Why is absence of empathy or compassion for others seen as no big deal by people in our society? That's what that announcement was. Our society is going to hell in a hand basket.

I don't care that much & I am trying to find out why errybody else does?

The this is what sports fans do. They care about their teams. They care about the athletes on their teams. Why do people care about Real Housewives? Why do people care about anything or anyone? It's because they are fans of them or it.

You know, if I were still his age, I might hold him to what he says. Being as though at that time I was just pompous enough to think I even 'started' to figure it all out. So yeah, I could see riding him for saying that as a 21 year old as a 20something. Now? Naw...I know he doesn't know everything at that age. I think you do too. You know good cotdamm well that could change. I would expect you not to hold that 'boy' (and make no mistake, he was but a boy then) to that foolish statement. lol *this is regarding the ESPN quote pictured above*

He made the quote just four years ago when he was 20 or 21 years old. We aren't talking about some 17 year old. He's a grown man that can fight for his country, drive a car and drink legally. Why would I not hold him to what he says? When I was 21 if I said something like that I personally wouldn't back down from it. It's not like he wasn't man enough to be the face of a franchise and have his own shoe and clothing line. If you want to be the King this is part of the job as well.

5 comments:

"You can't do it alone." - A quote I'm sure someone of importance said before.

While I agree with you that LBJ should have been on the recruiting trail like DWade, even if he was, there wouldn't have been much he could have done. On one hand you've got LBJ on the other you've got Wade, Riley, and the city of Miami. It's not even fair, the Heat win that battle all of the time.

And I too grew up in the age of Jordan's Bulls, Ewing's Knicks, Drexler's Blazers, etc. And the one thing I take from that era (other than the Bulls) is that tons of greats (Malone, Stockton, Ewing, Barkley) never won a championship. We can all say that LBJ is afraid of competition, but at the end of the day we all know that its about the ring.

He went to the Finals and lost to a better team. He got to the ECF and lost to a better team. Hopefully in Miami that won't a problem any more.

He's going to essentially be Scottie Pippen. Reggie Miller, Malone, Stockton & Barkley are all players I hold in higher esteem than some others that just chased a ring. It's not all about the ring. It's about being the man to bring the ring to your team or city.

When I heard that he was going to Heat, I shook my head because that will NEVER be HIS team. In my opinion, he did that for a ring. However, IF Miami Heat does not win the championship, they ALL look like fucking fools.

We live in a MUCH different time than when Jordan was playing and had loyalty to the Bulls. A lot of players are looking for the best team to take them to the top. I will just laugh anytime someone refers to him as King James because he lost that title when he decided to leave the Cavs. Now? He's just Lebron. LOL

P.S. - I DO understand that you must do what is right for you but if someone says this isn't about getting a ring, I would question their good judgment LOL

For one he did recruit. No one wanted to come to Cleveland. Bosh said no join me in Chi town or Mia. Amare said no come to NY. Boozer samething said he wasnt coming back to the cavs. Last year he tried to get arrtest there he said im cool im going to LA. he gave the cavs 7yrs and the didnt give him one good all star player to compliment him.

The big ass point people are falling to realize is he didnt have the combination that all those other stars you named did. Did Jordan leave? no but he got Doug collins fired and got phil jackson and scottie pippen. then his 2nd 3peat he got rodman. All the greats had great players along with great coaches. Kobe had Phil, Magic Pat riley, Isaih had Chuck Daily, hell wade had pat riley. Tim duncan had Pop. So you see the formula to greatness. Its not just the last name of these players you throwing out there. You swap Kobe and Bron and Bron wins that chip and the cavs are probably a 4 seed in the east. Mike Brown was a moron. A couple years ago when Shaq left Kobe tried to do it alone with ou Phil also and fell on his ass. Then he wanted traded. He gets phil back and gasol comes now ooooohhh Kobe is the Man! Man yall hating on Bron cause he tired of goin against all these super squads as the only star and with a weak ass coach. Celtics super team, LA super team, Magic 4 all stars. Spurs got there Big 3! Now wade got Bosh. He said fuck it! Ima squad up too. This aint the old school NBA cuz players and teams win through linking up! Forget what Barkely talking bout his no ring ass tried to go after one late, so did malone, gary payton. Fuck why not go get one now at 25. You mr. sports guy you tell me a Guy who did it without another Hall of famer playing beside him or a consecutive All star guy and a Great coach or Hall of Fame Coach! I bet you cant so why in the Hell does Bron have to be the 1st? Go get ya chip young Man!

Okay so everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you bring up excellent points. I'd like to share my thoughts on this as well. I think LeBron is catching a lot of flack for a business decision that he feels will be best for him, and that's crazy to me. Now, I do think he could have gone about it differently. I think letting his coach and maybe even his team know that he would be leaving, before going on tv to announce it would maybe have been in better taste. Nobody likes to be blindsided. I also understand what people are saying about chasing rings, and loyalty and all that. Folks make comparisons between him and MJ/Bulls.. but this is a different time. He's a very young man, trying to capitalize on his time in the spotlight. Most NBA players won't be relevant forever. They won't play forever, either. He's big, he's hot, and he has pull right now. If he thinks moving to Miami will somehow advance his career, he shouldn't be shunned for it. In every other (almost) industry, people make decisions that will help them advance, and nobody bats an eyelash. He didn't play for the Cavs for two seconds then move on, he gave them 7, SEVEN years. Both the Cavs and Lebron saw benefits from that union. People act as if dude played for a year and threw in the towel. I know the fans are passionate about the game and their favorite players, but let's look at this from a different angle. If Lebron was picked up by the Cavs, played for a couple years, and wasn't working out for them... they wouldn't have hesitated to trade him for a better player. It happens all the time in sports! I think the meat of this issue is business, not personal... and fans are taking it the other way. Just a different perspective.